This invention relates to the compiling and reporting of sensitive process information. In particular, the invention relates to validating acquired data from instruments used to monitor industrial processes.
Industrial process control systems typically use field devices having sensors or instruments to measure process variables such as pressure, temperature, flow, level, conductivity, pH, etc. The field devices may be connected by wires or by wireless communication links to a control room where the measured process variables are monitored.
It is common for data representing the measurements made by field devices to be stored, so that it can later be reviewed. Paper charts, for example, may be used to show one or more of the process variables as a function of time. The compiled data may also be made available to government regulatory bodies or to business interested parties (such as utility companies, commodity consumers, chemical manufacturers regulated by government agencies, and customers that are regulated by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency).
The use of charts representing data acquired over time raises reliability and accuracy issues, and the possibility of tampering with the data that is represented on the charts. Electronic systems used to store and report acquired process information also can suffer from the same issues in the absence of security protection for the data that is stored and validation of the accuracy of the data.